Importing Pre-configured Data Models in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central

Complete the following interaction to learn more about the components that make up Employee Central.

An HRIS (Human Resource Information System) is primarily used to store employee and organizational data. In SAP SuccessFactors, organizational details such as department, division, and legal entity are referred to as Foundation Objects.

Foundation Objects allow the company to define and store not just organization-related information but also pay and job structures. They play a key role in organizing employee information.

Foundation Objects are managed in two ways: some are handled as MetaData Framework (MDF) Objects through Configure Object Definitions, while others are XML-based and maintained in the Corporate Data Model.

Another essential part of a HRIS is HR Objects, which store employee-specific details like date of birth, national ID, job title, and salary.

What sets SAP SuccessFactors apart from other HRIS is its user-friendly approach to data management. The system provides both employees and managers with self-service options, allowing them to update or modify their information easily. Access to data is controlled through role-based permissions (RBP), ensuring that only authorized users can view or edit specific information. This feature enables employees to update their own records and managers to make necessary changes for their team members, making the system efficient and easy to use.

In this unit, you'll learn about the Employee Central system's setup, including the Admin Center configuration and the relevant XML files.

Data Models describe how data elements are structured in a database. They also define the properties that these elements possess and their relationships to each other.

Complete the following interaction to get a basic understanding of XML configuration.

The data models in SAP SuccessFactors Employee Central play a critical role in configuring customer requirements. You've already seen an example of visibility and custom labels in the interaction, Person Info Element. Remember, the Date of Death field was not visible and that the Place of Birth field was relabeled to the City of Birth. When configuring the data models, you can:

• Set the visibility of a field in the instance.
• Define custom labels and fields.
• Define the relationship among Foundation Objects.
• Set the order of fields that appear in the instance.
• Set a picklist for a field.

Any changes made in the data model must comply with the Data Type Definition (DTD). That means you can't add a new element, field, or attribute unless it's defined in the DTD. When a particular field isn't needed in the configuration, we recommend you hide the field rather than delete it from the data model. If it must be deleted, for whatever reason, we recommend you set the visibility to "none" before deleting the field.

Use the interaction to learn how the data models are used in Employee Central.

The Corporate Data Model defines the structure of key corporate information, such as Location and Pay Range. Other parts of the organizational structure—like Legal Entity, Business Unit, and Division—have been moved to the Metadata Framework, which can be managed through Configure Object Definitions in the Admin Center.

Corporate data is categorized into four main categories:

1. Organization-Related Structures
2. Pay-Related
3. Job-Related
4. Others

You can see the standard pre-delivered objects in the figure, Corporate Data.

Additionally, corporate data may include country-specific details. For example, the Location object may have different address formats based on the country. These country-specific fields are set up in the Country-Specific Corporate Data Model.

During implementation, both the Corporate Data Model and the Country-Specific Corporate Data Model (CSF) are initially uploaded in Provisioning. Later, they can be imported and exported either through Provisioning or the Admin Center using the Import/Export Corporate Data Model and Import/Export Country/Region-Specific XML for Corporate Data Model tools. Both methods allow for backup versioning to maintain data integrity.

In the course files, you are provided with an abridged version of the Data Models and the corresponding DTDs to be used for the next exercise. However, for actual Employee Central implementation projects, the standard Data Models and DTDs must be downloaded from the SAP Download Center

Correctly validate data models by linking the correct DTD. For example, to validate Succession Data Model (SDM) against sf-form.dtd, replace the URL from "http://svn/viewvc/svn/V4/trunk/src/com/sf/dtd/sf-form.dtd?view=co"> to "sf-form.dtd">. This will allow the data model to read the DTD, provided both SDM and DTD are in the same local folder.

There are two supplemental guides in the SAP Help portal which describe the data models used in SAP SuccessFactors HCM Suite and the corresponding fields in the data models. These are:

• SAP SuccessFactors Data Model Reference Guide
• Data Model Field Information for Employee Central